Tim Hemsley SuperPrix at Frensham Pond Sailing Club
by Clive Eplett 1 Oct 2013 12:59 BST
28 September 2013
Tim Hemsley SuperPrix at Frensham © Jonathan Dakin
34 Frensham boats gathered for the Tim Hemsley SuperPrix on Saturday. Tim, who sadly died far too young in February was not only a fabulous sailor, but was also keen to help others improve their sailing. Hence the SuperPrix; 3 handicap groups (from Phantoms, to 2.4s and Tera's) 8 races each, comprising Committee boat starts, a quick sausage, finish 10 minutes or so later and repeat. More start practice than most club sailors manage in a month or two.
Without Tim, it fell to Clive Eplett, ably assisted by Andy Bradford, to run the racing; quite a challenge when the Phantoms are approaching the finish whilst the Not-So-Fast group are about to start. But The Pieman's spirit was clearly looking down on proceedings, the wind was a lovely F3-4 north-easterly, with enough shifts and gusts to make things interesting, the flags and whistles worked on time and the turnarounds were rapid.
In the fast group, Matthew Hill in his Laser was the most consistent, with 4 bullets. Behind, it was really tight between Colin Dutton and Nick Hudson in their Lasers and Bob Larder in his Phantom. Colin came out on top. Perhaps if Nick had read his race communications, he'd not have turned up late and missed the first two races? Did it cost him? We'll never know. But an OCS, when he had no discards to play with was a bit costly. It was your shoulders over the line Nick, not the boat, that helped Bob secure third.
In the medium handicap Graham Butler in his Streaker was dominant with 5 firsts. Second was Vice-Commodore Neil Hardie, sailing an Ent with daughter Laura, and Nick Cherrill third in a Laser Radial who was the only person all day to try a port-flyer. Respect. Otherwise, this group had hardly any recalls. Skill, or not pushing hard enough?
In the Not-So-Fasts, Matt's dad Bruce Hill came out on top, but seemed to be pushed harder in this format than in normal Frensham races. There must be a moral in that somewhere. Second was Peter Gregory in another 2.4, followed by Jim Brooker in a Cadet. The 2.4s in particular entered into the spirit of the event with gusto, particularly Paul Phillips pushing hard. That was the idea, after all.
Interestingly, all three fleet winners finished on 8 points, so on count back, Graham's 5 wins put him on top, with Matt's 4 bullets pipping his dad who had 3.
Often in reports like this, the OOD gets plaudits for running the racing. In this instance though, the race management stars were Andy and Nigel Bayly. 34 boats and 8 races is a lot of sailwaving. Good work guys and thank you.